COURT THEATRE ADDS TO THE PROBLEMS FOUND IN `CANDIDE`

Melissa Dye, the young actress who portrays the fair Cunegonde in Court Theatre`s revival of ''Candide,'' had an opening night Wednesday that she is not soon likely to forget.

Part way through her first-act coloratura aria, ''Glitter and Be Gay,''

she had to stop cold and the show had to be interrupted because of the sudden illness of a member of the audience. About 15 minutes later, after the patron had been taken to the hospital, the musical resumed and Dye returned to the stage, flawlessly spinning out this taxing solo for the second time in the evening and receiving a well-deserved and prolonged round of applause in recognition of her courage and skill.

The pluck and resourcefulness Dye demonstrated in this unexpected crisis was the highlight of what was otherwise yet another failed attempt to solve the problems of ''Candide,'' surely the most problematic musical in American theater history.

Even with Leonard Bernstein`s brilliant score, the 1956 show based on the classic tale by Voltaire has never completely worked. It still needs a second act, despite a mass of helping hands that over the years have tried to lighten its tortuous procession of misadventures.

(The best effort by far in Chicago was director Michael Maggio`s buoyant 1977 non-Equity production in the Athenaeum Theatre.)

Court Theatre`s presentation, directed by Travis L. Stockley, further adds to the show`s inherent problems by staging it as an academic exercise enacted by students in the classroom of a dour professor of philosophy (B.J. Jones, not having a good time at all). This approach, while appropriate to Court`s University of Chicago setting, gets the action off to a sour, sluggish start and, worse yet, eliminates Bernstein`s invigorating overture (now tacked onto the end of the show as exit music).

Using a reduced, seven-piece, unsteady orchestra and a small, 14-actor cast, and working on a set that looks more like the tubular steel setting of Stephen Sondheim`s ''Company'' than the fanciful world of ''Candide,''

Stockley and his designers do manage to create a few imaginative stage pictures as the innocent lad Candide (John Schroeder, blessed with a sweet tenor), his beloved Cunegonde and their Old Woman companion (Barbara E. Robertson, in a Gypsy Tea Room accent) are buffeted from port to port in their search for the best of all possible worlds.

The only character who appears to have a spark of humor in these dogged proceedings is the vain ninny Maximillian, well portrayed and sung by Rick Boynton, a smart actor who specializes in delineating silly billies.

Otherwise, this is not a ''Candide'' to remember.

`CANDIDE`

A musical with a book adapted by Hugh Wheeler from Voltaire, music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Richard Wilbur, Stephen Sondheim and John LaTouche. Directed by Travis L. Stockley, with musical direction by Barbara Schubert, scenery by Katherine Ross, costumes by Frances Maggio and lighting by John Culbert. Opened Wednesday at Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Ave., and plays at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Sunday, through Oct. 27. Saturday matinees at 2:30 p.m. Oct. 19 and 26. Running time: 2:20. Tickets are $17 to $25, with discounts available for students, senior citizens and groups. Phone 312-753-4472.